Middle School Writing Prompts

Purdue Online defines an expository essay as "a genre of essay that requires the student to investigate an idea, evaluate evidence, expound on the idea, and set forth an argument concerning that idea in a clear and concise manner." Another term for expository essay is informative essay. This type of essay is intended to explain and inform.

The most common and easiest to teach style of expository essay is compare and contrast. This is an easy concept for students to grasp. If you are teaching a weak writer, I recommend starting with compare and contrast writing prompts.

Another simple type of expository is the example essay. An example essay affords you the perfect opportunity to teach the meaning of elaboration. Have your student offer an example and then elaborate.

The most complex for of expository essay is the cause and effect analysis. This type of essay requires the student to analyze a situation and inform the reader of its cause and effect.

Here are a variety of expository middle school writing prompts:

In a descriptive essay a student describes an object, place, person, experience, emotion, situation, or anything else that can be described in detail. You can offer students a vague descriptive writing prompt, giving them complete creative freedom, or you can assign them a very specific descriptive prompt and tell them what order they are to describe their topic (what direction, sequence, etc. should they use).

Below you will find a variety of descriptive writing prompts for middle school students:

A narrative essay is simply a story. It can be an auto biography, biography, or a story from an imaginative perspective. The goal of a narrative is to tell a story in vivid detail from a specific point of view. A narrative has a personal touch and should have a specific voice throughout.

Below I have listed narrative writing points:

It's very important that middle schoolers practice persuasive style writing. Persuasive writing has real world use. As an unsatisfied customer, I persuasive letter can receive fast response from a manufacturer. As an displeased voter, a persuasive letter to your governor or representative can bring about prompt action. Persuasive writing also helps develop a student's debate skills.

Here is a list of middle school persuasive writing prompts:

In middle school, students are expected to start making the gradual transition from writing book reports to writing research papers. Most states now require middle school students to write a literary essay in which they must analyze a work of literature.

I cannot provide specific writing prompts for this section since the essay topic will depend upon the book your student is reading. But here are some writing prompt ideas:

Being able to describe to someone how to do something is a very important skill to have. If your students ever hope to someday be in a position of authority, he or she must learn how to give detailed and accurate directions. Writing how-to essays is a great way to practice this skill.

A how-to essay is a form of expository essay since what you're actually doing is explaining to your reader how to do something. But this style of writing is so critical, that it deserves its own category of writing prompts.

Below are some how-to middle school writing prompts: